My English teacher told us yesterday to write in our own voice and not to write descriptively, saying “can I have some water” instead of “may I partake of that liquid refreshment?” This slightly goes against everything I’ve ever learned about formal writing. I love writing descriptively and making the leaves dance between the trees rather than just fall to the ground! Do you have any advice about a balance between voice and still wanting to paint a picture?

Thank you,

T

Sweet T,

I may have shared this story once or twice before but I will never forget the night I sent the first draft of my memoir to my editor. It was two days before the stated deadline. I pressed “send” on the email and the first thing I did was take a shower. I stood there for a really long time, no concern for the water bill, letting the stress and the angst of 14-hour book writing days fall off of my body. I didn’t know if I did a good thing or a bad thing in writing that first draft but I knew I had given it my everything.

I dried my hair. My boyfriend at the time picked me up. We rode to a burger joint and I laid in the parking lot pretending to kiss the gravel. I was being dramatic but I felt free and accomplished. I ate a burger the size of my head, went to sleep, and woke up at 4am the next morning to catch a flight to New Orleans. There was nothing climactic or big about that day.

A month later, my editor sent back her notes. I remember red slashes all over the pages and many phrases like “cut this” or “change this” or “explain this to me.” I felt defeated when it came to that first draft. I thought a good writer would have had less edits, less slash marks, less “cut this” remarks. My editor wrote in her note to me, “I could be very wrong about this but I wonder if you are hiding behind really pretty words when you could just come out and tell me how you really feel.”

In that moment— because of that one sentence— I became a better writer. Or maybe I finally became a writer.

…

I was 25 at the time. I treated life like I treated glass: very careful to never left anything break. I wrapped my words in descriptive and metaphorical wrapping paper. I had this thing where I wanted every word and every phrase to sound beautiful and romantic. I thought that’s what you had to do to be a good writer: write sentences people had to read three or four times before they grasped the depths of them.

You don’t have to be the girl who only uses pretty words. You don’t have to be the person who writes so complexly that no one understands them. There is a time and a space for beauty and description. There is a time and a space to just say what you need to say, void of filters and a thesaurus. There is a time to write about the leaves and how they bow and break off of their branches when Autumn comes and calls for them to die. There is a time to write about the collar of his shirt and how you never knew what home smelt like until the day he packed that collared shirt with the droopy stripes in a suitcase and never came back for you. There is also a time to simply write, “He left. It still hurts.” People will get you. People will understand you. People will stare at their palms, and look at the wall, and say, “He left me too. It still hurts too.”

That’s the beautiful thing about writing: it is one of the most rare and sacred ways to connect with other people and help them to feel. People want to feel things even when they are afraid of what those feelings will do to them. If you dress up your language so much that no one understands you— that no one can find you in the sea of adverbs and adjectives— you’ll never really be heard. Or you might look back and wish you’d been heard differently for who you really were.

…

T, I think your English teacher was simply trying to tell you to be yourself. You could absolutely write, “May I partake of that liquid refreshment” but would ever really say that to someone? Would you stand at a party and offer someone a fruity libation? Would you recite a poem to a person when they ask you not to go?

Language is simple and complex. That’s the beauty of it. I think your English teacher is smart to teach you how to find your voice. Your voice will be different than the person sitting next to you. That’s the cool thing about finding your voice in the writing process: you become different and set apart. We all crave that at the beginning and end of a day: the chance to be set apart and seen.

…

One last thing on voice: you must do the work, T. So many people create a blog or buy a notebook and just expect for their voice to show up. Like I wrote earlier, you’ve got to develop that voice through practice, discipline, and life. Even more people out there read the words of a writer they admire and then they begin writing just like them.

I once had to have a really tough conversation with a writer who was also a reader of my blog. I read her blog pretty consistently but I watched as more and more of my voice showed up in her writing. Several people reached out to me and told me they felt like she was using my voice. She started to borrow sentences and phrases. It came to a point where I had to email her and ask her to talk with me on the phone.

I felt a little crazy but I had to know, “Are you copying me? Are you using my voice?” I probably wasn’t expecting a straight answer but she didn’t cower in a corner, she was really honest with me. She told me yes, she was copying my writing. She was reading so closely that she was picking up phrases and sentence structure purposely and using it in her own corner of the internet.

What followed from that confession was this really redemptive conversation on voice. She and I were hundreds of miles away, talking over cell phones, but I felt like she was close to me. I still remember pacing the gravel of the sidewalk outside of church as I spoke to her for close to two hours. I still remember wearing a blue dress.

I told her it was a bigger issue when you opt for another person’s voice because it is easier or because it gains you applause. Two things happen when you pick someone else’s voice over your own. 1) You neglect your process. 2) You hijack their process.

For her to pick up my voice and use it was for her to claim she was a girl who used to sit in chapels hoping God would speak to her. A girl who spent her high school summer vacations listening to Delilah’s Love Songs at Night and calling into to request Mariah Carey songs be dedicated to SOS (Some One Special). A girl who once fell in love at the tail end of a semester, spun in circles by a guy who would read her Walt Whitman poetry late into the night and who would come back after a long summer and decide he didn’t want her. A girl who only became a writer because her grandmother told her to and she wanted her grandmother’s life to live longer than it had the chance to. My voice is a combination of sanctuaries, newspaper clippings, pages torn from books, love letters left by my mother, grace, and wisdom. To take that voice from me is to take the most precious thing I’ve ever been given the chance to develop.

Developing your voice takes time. It takes writing a lot of words. It takes getting honest and getting real with yourself and your readers. Your voices develops in secret places where you scribble for hours on yellow notepads. Your voice develops when you pay attention to how your friends think and speak and act when they are nervous or in love. Your voice isn’t something you find, it’s something you birth. You spend hours in the darkroom, just in the way they used to develop film, and something is birthed out of you that the world gets to devour.

Your voice is a combination of thoughts, feelings and places you’ve gone. Your voice is a 1999 pop ballad and a 2008 heartbreak. Your voice is that beach house you spent every summer at up until you were 16. Your voice is the night you went, and said, and asked, and celebrated. That’s how you make your voice yours and only yours— you live and then you write it down. Go out there, live and then write it down.

If the leaves danced then tell me they danced. If you slow danced in the kitchen then tell me the song. Tell me the tiny, delicate details that make this story your own.

Thank you Hannah, I needed this today as I swirl back into Story after 18 months at the World Bank. A fabulous learning experience where I kept most of my heart, but a bit got lost along the way. Time to release the heart again and share hope and healing through words. ❤ HUG to you!

Hi, Terri. I am glad you are going through the same sort of situation as I am. It makes me feel more comfortable having just started this blog, and I feel that knowing there are others like us out there that I am more likely to stick with this and truly discover my voice and who I am.

Tried to leave a comment but I don’t know if it was submitted. I think it was easier to write when I was a teenager and was angry about people dying or bullies or friends who stopped being friends. I always thought it was easier to talk about sad things in my life and working through them. Now, I’m too afraid to share my life with the world. Does that make sense? The good things don’t seem worthy and the bad things seem too personal.

I love this! Recently changed my phone banner to “Trust your voice” because that is one of my biggest struggle right now both in my writing and in my every day, trusting that I have something to say that only I can say and that is valuable. Thank you for reminding me how precious my voice really is!

I remember sitting in my creative writing class and thinking something similar to ” T”. I remember my teacher told us when writing a dialog to simply use “said” or “says” instead of words like “proclaim” and “explained”. It felt entirely opposite of what I had learned when I was young. Because when I was young I remember getting a word bank given to me with all the words to use instead of “said” or “says”. We were suppose to expand our vocabulary and avoid using those two words at all costs. But what I think I realized as I continued taking that class was that, writing has developed over the years. Writing has developed into something that can be personal, readers want to know the writer, they want vulnerability. I loved this post thank you for sharing, it will encourage me to continue refine and find my one voice in my
writing.

So very true, Fringlesa. It’s really confusing when the same teachers who taught us about word complexity and gave us ‘word banks’ start opposing themselves. Obviously, writing per se has evolved a lot over the years, actually limiting us to a smaller vocabulary, as the usage of a lot of words have entirely ceased. It’s kinda tragic, as we think about it, but all the same, everything happens for a reason, doesn’t it?
\m/ (^_^) \m/

This is probably one of the best explanations of voice I’ve ever heard. I’ve taken a lot of creative writing classes with “fiction writing how-to” books that are held in high regard, but they are so un relatable in their description. It’s always daunting when someone tells you to use your voice like its something you find in one night. That was hard to grasp, it’s a process and a journey. But, it is so incredibly rewarding. This was an amazing post (and reminder), thanks for sharing!

Hannah, I really enjoyed this blog. The line that you wrote about treating life like glass is very true for most people! I also think that hijacking their process happens much of the time in today’s society!

Hannah, I’ve been following your blog for awhile but I’m terrible at remembering to leave comments. This post really spoke to me, though, and I wanted to say thank you for sharing. Your voice – and writing – is beautiful and unique. Always look forward to a new post from you!

I just want to say thank you for this. I still feel like I’m developing my own voice. I sometimes don’t trust my own writing. I feel like my sentences are too descriptive or too simple. Too short o too long. I’m going to bookmark this post and read through it whenever I have doubt about my writing and my own voice. Again, thank you!

This was a stunning post: undoubtedly, you’ve found your voice and it is beautiful. I will happily admit that this is something I find myself struggling with. I blog and I’m working on a novel and I feel like I’m writing all the time, but sometimes I’m just still not sure that I’m finding and remaining true to that voice. I wonder as well if we intimidate people sometimes when we talk about needing to ‘perfect’ their voice (I don’t mean that you have said that, I mean other things that I’ve read), when what we need to tell people is to write. Just write, all the damn time, and you’ll come to learn who we are when we put ink on the page and what we sound like. That’s part of the journey.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that this was beautiful. Thank you 🙂

It can be a struggle in our age to find our voice because there are so many wonderful writers out there, and so many styles of writing. But I think Hemingway had it right: “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” It’s hard work to get down to the truth of who we are and how we see the world — but if we succeed, we at least stand a chance of creating something that is genuine and unique. Thank you for this wonderful, thought-provoking post, Hannah!

I love this piece, Hannah. There is that beauty and flow and simplicity that I have always loved in a piece of well-thought-out work. Thank you for writing about Voice. It is one of the most important things to have (and develop) as a writer. Personally, I’m moved and encouraged by this one. Good day! 🙂

Such a beautifully described post! i remember writing my first book at age of 14, now i look back at the mistake and immaturity of.my choice of words-yet they contain such truth and innocence i read again and again 😀 ofcourse, the relief after writing a book, let a lone a blog post is such amazing feeling! so out of the world! thankyou for making me miss those days again!

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. Since I was able to pick up a pen. I’ve got my journals from when I was a child and I’ve seen my writing evolve. I started writing and posting fan fiction in 2004 and I am still writing fan fiction today. I read over those first chapters and cringe. I’m still looking for my writing voice. It’s still developing at the age of 35.

The message you’ve shared here is one I take to heart. Especially with how not every word has to be eloquent and hard to understand. Sometimes simplicity is its own powerful message.

While reading everything you just said, I recalled the times when really wanted to be able to write like other people did. The thought comes again and again, but I stop myself from copying. It just doesn’t at all feel right.

Reading this inspired me to practice more and more to develop my own voice. Worth the time. 🙂

Hannah,
The exact same thing happened to me when I was working on my personal statement for my college application. My English teacher pointed out to me that she couldn’t see the girl behind the pretty adjectives and poetry. And it was true. I’ve always seen myself as a romantic and I was hiding behind my words. Ever since then I’ve used my words to stand out. I’m so glad somebody else understands that moment of realization (I’m aware it sounds naïve to think I was the only one!)

I wish your explanation of voice could become compulsory reading in English classes all over the world. Encouraging pupils to ‘find their voice’ is one of the most difficult things to achieve. Reading is a key to this development; experiencing the way established writers use their voices; learning how to manipulate language to suit different circumstances. Well said!

This is the best post I have read so far in wordpress, perhaps I must ay that this is something what I was wanting to read. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post. Partly I felt those are my questions and found answers within. You are awesome!!!

Hey Hannah,
ummmmm ,Where should I start?
Oh wait !! At first ,Applaud 🙂
Great work Hannah ,you have shown the balance between words.Voice of words described in well mannered.
“Two things happen when you pick someone else’s voice over your own. 1) You neglect your process. 2) You hijack their process.”
Happened to me when someone copied me in writing and photography.
It feels little better to know someone is copying us which shows our work is better but there is more anger that our origin is being stolen.But still ,there is a feeling whatever happens; the pure origin stays with us & we continue to let our work go on 🙂
Indeed true & up to the mark :”Developing your voice takes time. It takes getting honest and getting real with yourself and your readers. ”
Well written 🙂

Very beautiful post. You have captured very intrinsic nature of writer’s block.. I can relate to this post as I too have been through the same course somewhere along the way and I thought I wrote good stuff but nobody understood.

Excellent post! I wish more people would stop trying to find fancy words when a simple sentence is enough to get the thought across. I’ve read stories that put me in mind of a roller coaster ride … except every well thought out, ‘perfect’ word seemed to be part of the fast, heart stopping drop – and there were no slow uphill climbs. They would have been much better if three quarters of those perfect words had been replaced with simple, to the point sentences.

Wow, that was a really touching post, Hannah. I really like your style of writing. I was just wondering whether you’d be able to check out my blog. Well, it’s not really a great one, but I would really appreciate if you did that and gave me some advice on professional blogging, because I really think that with guidance from a person like you, I’d be able to make my blog better.
\m/ (^_^) \m/

Thanks for that dancing words story. I was just looking for such question–a month or so ago–and then the idea got out of my head. I’ll be recalling those forgotten lessons (I’m sorry for making that happened). Along with it, sometime the mighty Rakaposhi–on the way to Hunza–will slip our heads out of car’s window and sometime I will opt for just The scenic Rakaposhi was beautiful–a play on words with different styles.
Want to grab that whole story? Here is that. humblegait.wordpress.com

I read this yesterday and my brain has been on overdrive since. Thank you for the reminder that I need to find MY OWN VOICE. And that its okay if I’m not one to use the prettier, descriptive form of writing. Thanks for the nudge needed to free me. I want the world to know real me.

Heyy
I’d just like to tell you that I love just what you wrote there. I believe in it and it’s just so true..i’m looking to improve my writing skill myself and reading your little blog just made me realize that. Thank you and keep writing 🙂

“There is a time and a space to just say what you need to say, void of filters and a thesaurus.”

Sometimes I really over complicate my writing. I’ll write a couple hundred words with a main focus (sometimes it’s all over the place) then I’ll spend hours perfecting it .

Exhausting.

I love this truth here, “That’s the beautiful thing about writing: it is one of the most rare and sacred ways to connect with other people and help them to feel.” That’s what my heart longs to do. Feel with and be authentic with people.

Reblogged this on juantetcts and commented:
I’ve planned to write a book, after thinking about it for 15 years (what can I say, I just DECIDED at 47, to finally do the things I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do!). This post excited and MOVED ME as I love just “being me”! I can be rough around the edges at times, but the edges are beautiful, lol. My edges are a combination of my College Degree, growing up in South Central, Los Angeles, and a lot of LIFE ! This blog made me even MORE excited to get started on my own book!

Hannah,
Loved each an every word of your voice. Really loved it and trust me it has inspired me for the rest of my life. Now, i know what it takes to develop a unique voice. What it takes to be original. What ‘voice’ exactly means. Thank you for making me realise that my voice is still in the process of taking birth. Thank you so much!

The voice I have been given, is my own.
There are experiences that I have had no one could copy, unless they wanted to actually be me, and certainly there are things in my experience I wouldn’t have wished on anyone. ..

I will see what happens when I send a manuscript to my teacher…it should prove interesting.

Thanks for this Hannah. It’s fun trying out different voices too. For example trying out the voice of your inner child or your reprimanding parent; or your spontaneous voice or your disciplined straightjacket ….

“Your voice is a combination of thoughts, feelings and places you’ve gone. Your voice is a 1999 pop ballad and a 2008 heartbreak. Your voice is that beach house you spent every summer at up until you were 16. Your voice is the night you went, and said, and asked, and celebrated. That’s how you make your voice yours and only yours— you live and then you write it down. Go out there, live and then write it down.” Wow. I super love this one! Thank you so much for sharing. I am going to share this on the Facebook and quote you for it!!

I enjoyed reading your post. I have written for many, many years, but I’m only now trying to turn it into something special. Finding my voice and sharing my voice is a challenge, so I appreciated the words of encouragement that you shared here. Take care.

The truth was said in this article. And I like the part about the part of voice being a girl who was spun in circles and read Walt Whitman to late I. The night to learn after a summer that the guy does not choose her. My heart goes out to ” her” because there should be a personal revelation found because of that.

Hi Hannah, I know you must get this all the time…but I would really like it if you visited my blog and read some of my stories… I always felt I can’t really too without trying too hard…would you tell me if m trying too hard…

Thank you so much for sharing! This is a lovely post. I love these lines: “My voice is a combination of sanctuaries, newspaper clippings, pages torn from books, love letters left by my mother, grace, and wisdom. To take that voice from me is to take the most precious thing I’ve ever been given the chance to develop.”

I just recently came across your blog, and I must say this post is fantastic. I find your post inspirational because it doesn’t just trickle down to my writing, but it passes into my life and finding my voice physically with all the history it bears. Thank you for such an excellent piece.

Hello, I’m new here and am enjoying discovering advice and ideas to think about. This post sat me down and challenged me to examine my own writing for authenticity. I want my voice to be my fingerprint in words. Your reminder to be patient as I try to harvest it is encouraging. Thanks and best wishes.

Oh my gosh this is so good and really opened my mind on what I need to do in order to find my voice no not find but birth i thank you for this message though it wasn’t directed toward me..it sorta felt like it 🙂 so thank you for being such a good writer and understanding your voice enough to project it and share it with us? So we or people like me who are on their journey to find their voice benefit:)

I started writing in poetry. I feel that it helped me to understand how to “paint with words” – meaning how to blend and change their nature, like with colors. Now, focusing on writing complex ideas very simply, I can more efficiently convey concepts because of that history.

This blog is so affirming! I’m an aspiring writer, but oftentimes frustration will get to me and make me feel like I’m not good enough and possibly will never become one. But after reading this, I was reminded that yes, everything takes time. Dreams take time and it’s up to me to make that dream into a reality. Thanks a lot for such wonderful words!

I am new to blogging, I have always wanted to write but never truly went for it for fear of being told I am terrible. Putting yourself and something you are passionate about out into the world to be judged is simply terrifying. However, this post really inspired me to begin writing for myself, just to find my voice. So thank you!

I just put this thing making simple.
There is difference in between spot and point. Like mole on your cheeks
Its natural you cannot deny that. But
When you make a mole. I mean the artificial mole you put it on your face to make it more attractive. Creative writing always make interesting and attractive Combination of words /selection of words counts a lot.
I don’t know how you take my words
Well wisher and all the success be at your door step

Gorgeous and your words are exactly what I needed to hear. I’m still searching for my voice, the one that is daughter, mother, lover, no longer a young girl, yet I’m still so naive. I thank you for sharing your words and I am so happy that I found your blog. 🙂 I hope you have a beautiful week!

Thank you.
I’m in a place filled with tension between finding my voice, and getting out of the way of the story pouring out. Learning to let go of a really good sentence, because it is out of place is part of that. Once words are on paper they have their own life. Simplicity can be the best way to support the story.
Thank you for speaking to this so eloquently.

I really enjoyes this post. My whole life has been a struggle when it comes to writing. I used to love to write up until the day I found out my mom had been reading my diary and left me a note written in MY diary apologizing for violating my privacy. Since then, I have a hard time writing unless I get seriously inebriated.

As I grow older, staying single and living life for myself, my confidence is growing. I no longer care if people judge me for the words I write. I’m doing it for me. I’m writing in MY words.

Thank you. I enjoyed your Post. I just started writing (I am 50 something). I am having a blast. It’s totally my voice, a voice I never new I had. If I ever have a doubt about my writing, I think of something Georgia O’Keeffe once said about her artwork, “It amuses me, but I don’t know if it amuses anyone else.”

Hannah,
Wonderful! What you said is so true…finding your own voice takes a large amount of time to be spent in knowing yourself, your thoughts, feelings and why things affect you the way they do. It takes to go skin deep and know your fears and things which move you. It is a liberating process which leaves you richer and more vibrant.

This post, has impacted me greatly because i used to be one of those people who thought that if it seems simple to read, its not that deep. This has changed the way i approach my work as a writer, Thank you.

I really enjoyed this article, and I have sometimes wondered, why some people would speak or write in such a way that many would not understand. In the Christian Bible, it says that people should no longer speak in tongues unless they have an interpreter. However, in example, writers such as Edgar Allan Poe had a habit of putting complex words in his writings to intentionally give his readers two options. The first was to pick up a dictionary, and the second was to continue the literary work for artistic sake. We can not always understand a work, and sometimes you are not supposed to, as infants, we did not understand many things that brought us joy. And for some readers and writers, such as Poe, who see Literature as an art better enjoyed implicit, and complex, the idea is to evoke thought, wonderment, and to have us scouting context clues, and reading portions over. This is just my opinion, but I enjoyed this article so much, that it was able to bring forth all of these thoughts and opinions, and I thank you.

I really enjoyed this article, and I have sometimes wondered, why some people would speak or write in such a way that many would not understand. In the Christian Bible, it says that people should no longer speak in tongues unless they have an interpreter. However, in example, writers such as Edgar Allan Poe had a habit of putting complex words in his writings to intentionally give his readers two options. The first was to pick up a dictionary, and the second was to continue the literary work for artistic sake. We can not always understand a work, and sometimes you are not supposed to, as infants, we did not understand many things that brought us joy. And for some readers and writers, such as Poe, who see Literature as an art better enjoyed implicit, and complex, the idea is to evoke thought, wonderment, and to have us scouting context clues, and reading portions over. This is just my opinion, but I enjoyed this article so much, that it was able to bring forth all of these thoughts and opinions, and I thank you.

Oh my. U know when i write I use words that every one can understand I want my readers to be able to identify with my story and I want to be able to inspire but if they don’t understand what I am saying, so thank you for the reassurance ❤❤

I agree with every word of this Hannah, sometimes we feel the need to prove with our words that we are smart, but that is contrary to the spirit of writing, you write for yourself and that’s where authenticity comes from.

Thank you, I really enjoyed this article, it seemed to complement very well my pre-summer post about my losing my voice..and running dry – literally and physically speaking – at the end of a challenging academic year. An inspiring post